


smile

by creamyoreofillings



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Canon Compliant, Introspection, M/M, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, akira kurusu pov, goros confidant link spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:47:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27257407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creamyoreofillings/pseuds/creamyoreofillings
Summary: akira looks at goro's lips and eyes a lot.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 71





	smile

when he smiles its all bright and plastic and fake; blinding with enough charisma to charm the average person, but with hints of darkness twitching at the corner of his mouth. akira wants to pull his makeup-dusted cheeks, stretch them as far as they can go to test the limits of his angelic tv smile. akira wants to burn the plastic right off his face, melt it with his persona's fire spell and savour the smoke of a game won.

red eyes are hidden under eyelids heavy with bags each time he grins, and akira finds that despite being charmed by the loveable and dorky prince smile he finds that he grows a bit resentful of it.

he is no less charmed, though; but maybe that's what he resents about it the most.

* * *

it was in the smug smile after a game of billiards. his lips twitching into a smirk held down by the sheer force of will; conscious of the public surrounding them. akira wishes it were just the two of them inside just so he could see it. it wasnt unlike the prince smiles he gave, but there was some of that hidden _something_ in it and akira is a dying man who's only salvation is the tiny differences between the tv smile and this one.

eyes the color of a sunset with a promise to come back turn into crescents crinkling in schadenfreude delight. those smiling lips taunt him with a painful truth, a challenge and a bet. akira finds himself agreeing; going through countless losses and learning from them.

he doesn't mind losing from time to time, if it meant seeing that smug almost-smirk appear. akira wants to be the only person to wipe it off his stupid pretty face.

* * *

a flash of a smirk at the arcade made akira lose focus, but the content and sad little smile on his face at the bathhouse is what took away akiras breath. it was a fragile thing; so brittle and worn, an imaginary sigh exhaling with it. it was gone as soon as it was shown, replaced with the plastic tv smile akira hates (likes? akira likes all of his smiles, even the fake ones). the rueful little smile as he recounts his childhood, a little more of that darkness hidden inside him.

a ghost of a scowl and a flash of red eyes renders akira speechless for a million reasons. breath effectively stolen by a pretty detective and his stupid pretty smiles.

he wants; he wants a million things with goro akechi, but tonight was not the night for it.

* * *

the smile he gives akira at jazz jin is different from the others. deceptively similar to his prince smile, albeit crooked on one side and reaches to his eyes a little. its endearing and adorable. akira doesnt tell him because he might stop smiling that one and akira got a little too attached. he looks… peaceful. at _home_. his guard lowered, and right in the prescence of akira in his secret hideaway (and if the revelation runs an electric shock down akira's spine, at least goro's eyes were closed as to not witness it.)

akira doesnt get to see those eyes of his, but he finds that doesnt mind this at all.

* * *

the feral grins and exhilarating laughter, the smirk. along with a glove and a promise given to akira. he wants to stop and rewind time just to relieve these moments, but life goes on and suddenly he's waiting inside the room. beaten up and hazy, handcuffed and sitting on a metal chair. akira watches as he strides into the room, giving him the princely smile before going blank and shooting the guard. akira knows its not him as he talks, monologuing as he kicks away the body and checks the silenced gun. it fully overtakes him as he aims the gun at his head, crazed smile fitting like a piece from a different puzzle.

his eyes glint dully in the bleak light of the interrogation room. akira thinks he hates this smile the most; its not goro anymore.

but as he pulls the trigger, akira cant help but think that he's still beautiful; mismatched pieces and all.

* * *

the next time akira sees him smile is in the depths of shido's corrupted heart. all twisted and crazed, nothing like the feral grin he gave during their duel. he was ruthless, dealing heavy and dodging fast. even with the helmet akira can clearly see the snarl on his face, spitting out things about teammates and weakness. suddenly he's on the ground, defeated and frustrated and gritting his teeth at the world that failed him.

they were almost home free when the cognition arrived; blank eyes and blank smile making itself known on an exact copy of goros face. it cackles exactly like him, but not. akira hates looking at it.

and when the wall comes up to seal goro away forever, akira can hear the wry smile in his voice. asking him to make one more deal (goro never begs, hes too proud to beg-)

before the twin shots rang out, akira can picture the defeated smile on goro's face.

* * *

its january and everything is freaky, but goro's right here and real and scowling like its in his nature to. it makes akira giddy. he likes goro better like this; unrestrained by public perception and free to let out another side of himself. a little more honest. of course akira has to work for it, but he's happy to make another deal to find out whats happening to their world.

he missed working with crow, too. though akira will probably never see robin hood's outfit again, he's warming up to goro's emo candy cane aesthetic. crow's even more prone to yelling; shouting obscenities and… among _other_ things, during battle.

red lenses glinting in the bright lights of the palace, the eyes behind them feral and beautiful. and when they get the other thieves back, sometimes he wishes that goro goes back to being navigator. wishes it was the two of them against the world.

goro doesnt smile during their excursions to jazz jin. just sits back and lets the atmosphere and the voice of the singer wash over him. akira finds that he doesnt mind this either, basking in the comfortable silence of being with his rival.

goro also doesnt smile during february. he's scowling at maruki and spitting venom, and akira cant do anything but sit there numbly. the words from his school therapist's still ring in his head, and he drifts until the heated argument between him and goro comes to a head. hes scowling, almost a snarl. akira cant help but think he's still pretty.

goro doesnt smile or scowl, doesnt even give him a frown. his lips sealed up in a tight line that relaxes after reassurance from akira. he strides to the exit and akira is a second too late to grab onto his sleeve.

* * *

as akira looks up at the monacopter while he's gripping his therapist's hand for life, he thinks he can see goro ruefully smile before everything is filled with blinding white.

akira thinks he grinned back.

* * *

akira settles into his train seat, staring at the window. he doesnt want to go home yet, but he still needs to learn how to grow. he still has a promise to keep, akira thinks as he brushes the soft leather glove in his pocket.

he catches a glimpse of someone at the corner of his eye as the train moves, and akira smirks. he mouths three words to himself (and maybe to him, if it could reach him somehow) before getting himself comfortable in his seat.

"your move, crow"

**Author's Note:**

> this is me trying to get a feel in writing. so sorry if its different than my usual writing style(?) lol. its been too long since i wrote a fic
> 
> twt: queuerious


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